Hand drawn sketches

[Larry Lyke]

Enticin' Land (as in ... Tyson Country).

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

Change or become fossil fuel!

Why would you not learn a sketch program? They are relatively inexpensive, much more accurate than hand drawn and calculated AND they look really good in the report.

Who wanted to challenge me to a speed test????

 

[carol milder]

I am under 50, but have been appraising 20 years. I scan my sketches into the report on a map page ... I have Apex in the ACI program and do not use it.
Hand sketches are good ... you can make personal remarks on the sketch in your own handwriting, ie: rotted wood, peeling paint, cracks in brick veneer, add-on room, etc. Also, the sketches are like art, they are the only place in the report that shows a human touch ... my reports are attractive ... processors look at them and pass them around ... I've actually picked up new work because my reports are different, interesting ... not cookie cutter boring.
We are in the service business and we compete for business ... getting reports noticed is good. With email, we have lost the personal contact of sending reports with an attached handwritten thank you note, sending along a business card, pen or calender. Many of our customers are located in other states, so we are not able to drop off a report at a local office and visit with the loan officers and office personnel, building relationships and loyalty.
It is the small things that make a difference. I love appraising!!
Carol

 

[Larry Lyke]

Carol --

I eschew almost all of the good-feeling stuff relationship that you are trying to create with your client. My product is simply the best available for the product price range, lead time and delivery channel prefered by the client.

I'm in the most bloated appraiser age-range in the industry, having been in real estate for 28 years (appraising full-time for 16 years). I use APEX for the very best looking Sketches and best possible efficient-Sketches, with appropriate inserted text in the Sketch, if necessary.

Hand sketches are good for the fun of it. Personal remarks are not part of the appraiser's toolkit outside of inducing facts, for me. Handwritten Sketches mean you have to inform the rest of the report with hand-calculated Sqft for the rest of the categories (with a real possibility of introducing errors).

'Cookie-cutter boring' is not an attribute I recokon to be a factor for a busy underwriting departments which want organized facts reasonably arranged for easy interpretation. Doing 100s of appraisals per day of 'personalized' appraisals would be a hassle.

Being in a service business means appraisers can compete on any level that's of nterest to the client -- and I agree.

Loosing business to e-mail competition means you and your client are both pretending that 'Ludditism' will reign in the realm in the future, when in fact it's awkward-backward looking. Yup! Buy about 200+ years.

"It is the small things that make a difference. I love appraising!!" I agree, but maintaining a backwards stance doesn't seem to me to be forward looking. That blurb is not just axiomatic. Face east; it's where the next day is coming from -- Right Now!

'Just another's teeney-weeney opinion.' As in, a pea is not a nut, it's not a pea, it's a legume [something like that].

Best o'luck.

 

[carol milder]

Including hand-drawn sketches does not mean that I do not email my reports ... hello ... 99% of my reports are sent email. I love the new technology it saves time, but I am also free to use the technology as it pleases me. I do not see a resemblance with me and Luddite, I am offended by your assumptions.
Your reply just reminded me why I rarely contribute to this forum.
I love appraising!
Carol

 

[Farm Gal]

Carol,
You make an interesting pont with regard to arrows and comments, I have done exactly that useing the Apex program and freeform to draw arrows, adding the comments to the side. If you do a 'pretty' sketch I can see where it would surpass the standard issue apex sketch in 'human interest' factor alone!

My field sketches aren't pretty, and tend to many comments 'for internal use only', so I woud have to redraw for submission.

Intersting concept! and proabaly a good marketing tool...

Just curious though: do you hand calc the square footage or use a mechanized floorplan sketch for that purpose? We have several clients who require the area calculations, and I was wondering how you would handle that?

Regards, Lee Ann

 

[Tim Hicks (Texas)]

Carol, I don't know Larry personally, but I doubt he was trying to insult you personally. How can you be an appraiser if you are so sensitive.

Now, don't get offended, but there is no way your reports are better looking than mine. I have the best looking reports in the business. how is that for appraiser arrogance. I use Apex, it looks better, is quicker and math errors are eliminated. I started out hand drawing sketches and learned about Apex in 1992. My boss was too skeptical and would not buy it. I bought it for myself and within a month, he realized I was putting out a better product than he was. I don't know you personally either, but Apex really is easier, faster and better looking than any hand drawn sketch. You can label text anywhere on the sketch. I personally believe that any appraiser that does not use a sketching program is just plain stubborn and lets their stubborness interfere with their judgement. I make this statement knowing fully well how stubborn and sketpical I am. Read my posts about the Disto and the Pocket Total. I am hard nosed about these products, but Apex is a snap.

Lastly, take comments with a grain of salt on this forum. We welcome your input. Don't other appraisers in your office ever give you a hard time or say things to irritate you just get you fired up and more determined to prove your point? Anyway, do you really care what an faceless appraiser across the country really thinks of you? don't get offended, put them in their place!

 

[Tim Hicks (Texas)]

Carol,

Just a little bit more. When I first started posting on this forum. I was very leary of the attacks I would receive in responses. I was not let down, one guy was relentless and attacked me personally every chance he had. He got my dander up worse than any one person in this world, but I would not succomb to his will or his opinions. He disappeared some time ago (from the forum only, I hope) and I had nothing to do with it. I keep coming here because I learn so much from the forum that it keeps me on top of current appraisal issues, actual real world examples of appraisal problems and lender problems, too. I don't need to post here, but I do so because I find a lot of humor in it, it helps me vent my appraisal stress and it is addictive. Trading jibes with faceless appraisers is no problem either. After, they are all inferior, less educated, have less integrity and have lower ethics than I do anyway. That is, of course, excluding any appraiser who might be reading this.

 

[carol milder]

Lee Ann ... I do the calculations myself and add it to a portion of the sketch.

Tim(Texas) ... I like the forum for the same reasons you do, I just do not have the time or the inclination to debate and exchange jibes during the day. My husband and I are both appraisers ... he uses Apex, loves it ...

The guy that started this thread just wanted to know if anyone else does hand sketches, well there are still a few of us ...

I love appraising!
Carol

 

[Tim Hicks (Texas)]

Great! I do have question for you hand drawers. How do you handle the curved windows and the angle homes? I know every other area of the country must be like here. Y shaped homes, dome homes, million dollar homes with curved or circle windows. I just don't have confidence in my caluculus in my old age. Apex frees me from worrying about the living area of a geodesic dome or that home with six 45 degree exterior walls.